How to stream movies and TV shows for free on Android

People have been saying that the best things in life are free for a long time, but it's only now that we live in the app era that I've started to truly believe it. For example, there's a huge number of apps that let you stream movies and TV shows for free on Android. We've gathered the best of them together for you here.

CBS

With the CBS app, you can stream as much as you want without having to verify your cable TV subscription credentials. It comes with episodes of shows like The Big Bang Theory, Criminal Minds, Elementary, The Good Wife and Two and a Half Men, plus late night hits like The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

The CW Network

With shows like America's Next Top Model, Arrow, Supernatural and The Vampire Diaries, the CW doesn't disappoint with fun content. You don't have to verify your cable TV subscription credentials, but you do have to sit through ads. All in all, this is a good app (if you like the content) that runs smoothly.

History

The History Channel's app offers some fun reality shows like American Pickers, Gangland, Mountain Men, Ice Road Trucker and old episodes of Top Gear (which recently moved to Amazon Prime under the name The Grand Tour). The History app allows you to search shows by topic, like WWII or Ancient History, which is a neat feature. The only downside is that there are several ads shown per episode.

Crackle

Crackle is a hugely popular free app, which is updated monthly with new TV shows and movies. Created by Grouper but later bought by Sony, the app features ads which run at regular intervals throughout the content, the trade-off for which is that you get an excellent selection of media and an app that functions far better than some of the other TV service ports on the list.

Crackle, like Netflix or Amazon, has picked up some original content that's getting more popular. The most famous of these is 'Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee' starring Jerry Seinfeld. It's on it's eighth season and has featured some major guests like Will Ferrell, Ricky Gervais and Barack Obama.

Hulu

Hulu lets users watch premium TV shows and movies on their smartphones or tablets without paying a subscription fee. It's packed with current and classic shows, Hulu originals, movies and plenty of kids' shows, making it a perfect family tablet companion.

If you want full access to the Hulu library you will need to pay $7.99 a month with limited commercials and $11.99 without commercials, but there are plenty of gems in the free version too. If you're willing to be patient then you'll be able to find some great shows for free.

SPB TV

The Android SPB TV app is not region-specific and offers content from around the world via a selection of weird and wonderful stations. From the NASA channel to Comedy for Women, this app gives you a pretty healthy mix of content.

You won't find the latest Hollywood blockbuster, NBC or Showtime on SPB TV, but if you want to take a chance on a wild card, this is the app to use. A few of the stations definitely appear to be of a more adult nature (how you choose to use that information is up to you).

#Toonmania

For your anime needs, it's hard to beat Toonmania, which offers a huge selection of the dubbed cartoons. Everything is easily navigable thanks to the app's clean and intuitive layout, and you can browse shows sorted by popularity or most recently added. There's also an exhaustive list of filters, so you can narrow down your search to find exactly what you're looking for.

This app isn't available from the Play Store, but if you head to mobi24, you can download the APK file. Just make sure you head to Settings > Lock screen and security and enable Unknown sources before trying to install the file. Once you're done you'll have access to everything in the library.

Crunchyroll

Another excellent Anime streaming app is Crunchyroll. And this one is available through Google Play. It has a huge selection of the best Anime available free. The app is quite popular with over five million downloads and gets a decent rating.

Running the app is quite simple. Just browse through your favorite shows and they will run with subtitles. The default is English so you won't have to mess with the language. You'll have to watch some advertisements but mostly for the premium service it offers. Basically, you're paying $4.99 so you won't have to watch Crunchyroll advertisements.

FilmOn

FilmOn streams a broad range of channels from around the world live, as well as a variety of classic/B-movies; mostly a bizarre but entertaining mix of horror and Kung Fu movies. But the sports channels are the most impressive. You can check out some pretty interesting live events on this app.

FilmOn is a free service supported by ads and doesn't have the same clout as Netflix or even Hulu, but the live TV streams work well, and it's a great option for streaming a number of well-known channels. Make sure you browse for a while and see what's available, you may be surprised at what you can find.

Those are just a few suggestions for how to stream free movies and TV shows on your smartphone. If you tried any of these apps, what did you think of them? Are there any of your favorite apps we've left off this list? Share them with us in the comments.

This article has been rewritten since first publication. Comments below may not reflect current content.

If you want great internet radio streaming, try "Radio Player by Audials" in the playstore. Free, no ads, and no request for donation even. Tons of features, but best, is recording, while listening or scheduled in background. It's unbelievable that more don't know about this gem. Great UI, exceptional performance, built in equalizer, etc,etc,etc. If you hate the ads on Play Music, or TuneIn, or others, then check this one out.

Hi Saul, I just followed your link then downloaded from Googleplay. I haven't had time to work with your app as of yet, I've just signed in and connected to Google drive (Which went very smoothly) and got back to you. This fills a gap in the market perfectly, which I've been looking for sometime as I've uploaded hundreds of movies into Google drive but unfortunately unable to load up the movies poster's , and i'am struggling with putting TV seasons together and in order, also renaming some title's which just come with a reference number. From the quick look I gave your app, it appears to cover all these (so thank heaven's). I will get to know how it functions and leave you fair feedback, unlike unfortunately some have and don't know what it's for! I hope you make a paid one so people have the choice to get rid of the ads, and I hope you keep this up/in development as it serves a great purpose, and as more individuals come across it will appreciate it as an indispensable tool. Can't wait to start reorganising the dreadful mess which I'm currently in, and have a ordered movie streaming platform of my own, great idea this app of yours, I hope it works out and you don't mind me reporting any bug's. All the best for New Year.

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